Just because the public has thrown them out of the leadership position is no reason for House Democrats to begin showing respect for the Constitution they are sworn to uphold, yet seem to despise. From their friends at the Washington Compost:

For more than 200 years, Americans have revered the Constitution as the law of the land, but the GOP and tea party heralding of the document in recent months — and the planned recitation on the House floor Thursday — have caused some Democrats to worry that the charter is being misconstrued as the immutable word of God.

“They are reading it like a sacred text,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, who has studied and memorized the Constitution with talmudic intensity.

Nadler called the “ritualistic reading” on the floor “total nonsense” and “propaganda” intended to claim the document for Republicans. “You read the Torah, you read the Bible, you build a worship service around it,” said Nadler, who argued that the Founders were not “demigods” and that the document’s need for amendments to abolish slavery and other injustices showed it was “highly imperfect.”

No doubt WaPo’s adolescent sage Ezra Klein agrees with Nadler’s characterization of the Constitution as “a long, dry, boring document.” Fortunately, others still understand why it should be treated with reverence:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a frequent exalter of the Constitution, said Thursday’s reading is a logical reaction to a campaign that was explicitly run on its principles. She said she believes the Constitution is a guide to paring down expansive government powers. “The words of the Constitution mean what they say they mean,” she said. She described the Constitution as “the organic, original document” that “gives life to a nation.”

When we submit to being ruled by a government that doesn’t take the Constitution seriously, America is over.